What Partner's Do
by bookworm2dance
Summary: What could happen if Karen got shot.


**This is my first Blind Justice fic, so I hope you all enjoy. I have ideas for more, but I won't write them unless I get reviews.**

**This is a short one-shot about what might happen if Karen got shot. It has been written like this for a reason. Without her, everything is going past in a trance like state for Jim. This is also set in what could have been season 3.**

**I own nothing. If I did, the show would never have ended.**

**Enjoy!!!!!!**

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In the end, it didn't matter what he had or hadn't done. Se had been shot. Hurt, and there was nothing he could have done. Now he was sitting in a too warm hospital waiting room, hoping that she would live

As police officers, they all knew the price that they may someday have to pay. They would pray to every God in the books that it wouldn't happen to them. Or to their partners. But it did happen. Jim knew that better than most, and the consequences that it could lead to.

Jim's mind flashed back to the events that had taken place, just hours before. They had just finished a tough case involving four dead men. The killer had been caught and was on his way to the detention centre to await trial. All they had been doing was going to the hot dog stand around the corner to celebrate. It was lunch, not a takedown. She shouldn't have been shot over lunch. She shouldn't have been shot full stop.

They had all put in a lot of hours to this one, so when he and Karen had left for lunch, he had left Hank where he was, snoozing in a sunny patch on the squad room floor. Thank goodness he had left him there. If he hadn't, Hank could have been hit.

They were just drawing up to the hotdog stand when people suddenly started to scream. Jim turned to Karen quizzically, but before she had a chance to tell him what was happening, or even to draw her weapon, six shots were fired.

The force of the first bullet had sent her body flying into his. He just about managed to grab hold of her before she fell, catching her around the waist, but not before she was hit twice more.

Jim didn't even think about catching the gunman. He could hear Tom and Marty, who had left the squad a few minutes before they did, were tackling him to the ground. He ran his hands up her legs, across her chest and abdomen and down her arms, looking for the source of all the blood.

There was a graze on her hip, a through and through under her rib cage at the right hand side and the third bullet was lodged somewhere in the abdominal cavity. There was so much blood, pumping from the wounds and oozing onto the dirty pavement. Jim had one hand trying to stem the flow that was coming from her side. The other was plugging the wound to her stomach.

He had talked to her, trying to keep her awake. He didn't even remember what he had said. She could die, and he couldn't even the last words he ever said to her. She had said that she was cold and tired and that it hurt. He was pretty sure that he would have said something comforting. He was very relieved when he heard the distant wailing from the incoming ambulances.

It was just another few minutes before he was bundled out of the way by two paramedics. He could hear them clamp an oxygen mask to her face and try to stem the flow of blood that was still pouring from her body. He took up a position near her left shoulder and held her hand while they strapped her to a stiff spinal board and bundled her into the ambulance.

When they arrived at the hospital, she was wheeled away from him by a team of doctors who had met her at the door. A nurse took him to cubicles to stitch up his hand, where a bullet had grazed it. He hadn't even felt it.

She then took him to the waiting room where he had to fill out forms with her medical information. He had it. After they had been on the job together for about 10 months they had exchanged information. He hadn't even read hers. It was printed in Braille, but she had given it to him in a sealed envelope. He read it once, expecting to have it with him if it was ever needed.

He filled out the forms as best he could. He knew she was allergic to nuts and had had asthma as a child. Her next of kin was her roommate and she had no immediate family. He signed the bottom of the form stating that, in absence of her next of kin, he would be responsible for any emergency medical treatment.

When the nurse left, He was joined by Fisk. He had to relive it once again as his statement was taken. His only relief was that the man had already been caught when his getaway car crashed only a block down the street. He had been gunning specifically for Karen, over a case she had worked when she was in uniform. Unfortunately, two civilians were dead, and one was in a stable condition after the bullet had hit his shoulder. The gunman was looking at life without parole for two counts of murder, two counts of grievous bodily harm and aggravated assault. The DA was sure of a conviction.

Not long after Fisk had left, Jim was joined by Karen's roommate Sophia and Christy. They didn't say much, just sat, waiting for news. There was no word until after her nine hour surgery to repair the damage to her internal organs that they were told that they could go in and see her. Jim let Sophia go in first, but she only stayed for about twenty minutes, as she had an early tour that morning.

When Sophia had left, Christy and Jim made their way to her room. Christy gave an involuntary sharp intake of breath as they came to the door. "How bad is it?" he asked her.

"It's bad Jimmy. She's on a ventilator and there are so many tubes and wires connected to her that I don't know what's what. She's so pale." She pointed out where there was a chair, and then left to give her husband and his partner some privacy.

Jim pulled the chair up beside her bed and sat down, holding her hand. He chatted to her for a while, telling her exactly how they had caught him and how he had wet his trousers when Marty came in and started yelling at him. Then he just sat, the only noises being the soft whoosh of mechanical breathing and beep of a heart monitor. The sounds were irritating, but, he reminded himself, they meant that she was still alive.

He stayed with her for about half an hour. He would have stayed longer but he wanted to be at the precinct by nine. They were already one Detective down. On the way, he stopped off at home where he had time to shower and put on clean clothes. Christy just dumped his clothes. There was so much blood on then that it would never wash out.

He was surprised that Christy didn't protest about him going to work as she dropped him off, but for once she seemed to understand his need to be doing something.

Where possible, their cases were being handed off to other precincts or departments as they were one short, so it was a slow day. It would remain that way until they got another Detective to temporarily fill her spot.

All day, Jim had avoided going near her desk, or even facing its general direction, like the plague. It was not until they were getting ready to leave that Fisk took the call that they had been waiting for. She was awake.

Jim arrived in the ICU, only to be told that she was in a private room a couple of floors down. He found the nurses station where one of the nurses was able to give him an update.

"She is doing much better now Detective. She's still in a lot of pain, but now that she's made it through the first 24 hours, we are very hopeful about her prognosis. However, I would ask you if you could leae your dog outside. I know he's a service dog so he's allowed where ever you go, but we are trying to keep her environment as clean as possible. You're welcome to leave him here."

Jim sat Hank down behind the desk and shook out his cane. He followed the nurse's surprisingly good directions to her room and was glad to feel Braille annotations between his fingertips, confirming that it was indeed the right room. He would have been very embarrassed if he got the wrong one.

"Karen?"

"Hey Jim". Her voice was weak and rasping. He made his way over to where her voice had come from and sat down beside her in the chair that was behind him. He was just so relieved that she was alive, awake and talking.

He only stayed for about an hour, not wanting to tire her out. They had been briefly joined by Marty and Tom, but after Karen had taken a coughing fit, a scolding nurse had shooed them out.

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Karen remained in hospital for 12 days before being discharged. She was still weak and found walking very painful. The bullet that had grazed her hip had taken a chunk of bone with it. She had to walk with a cane until it was fully healed.

Jim had called in to see her every evening on the way home from work, bringing news from their latest cases. She had even solved one from her hospital bed. As he had often said, all it can take is a fresh pair of eyes.

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**6 Months Later**

It was Karen's first day back at work. Jim was relieved. The Detective he had been partnered up with had not been good. They were old and didn't think he should still be on the job. He had refused to give Jim the information he needed at crime scenes and He had often been forced to ask Marty for help.

Admittedly, Karen was a little slower, tired a little easier and used a cane for longer distances, but she was still Karen. She told Jim what he needed to know at the crime scene, while he often found that she needed to lean on him, literally. She hated her cane as much as Jim hated his and used it as little as possible.

She was back. Their partnership had stood up to the ultimate test and life could go back to the way it was.** PLEASE review. I'm not sure what I think of it myself. I know theres a lot I could have done with this such as Jim carrying the gun issue, but I'm not good at confrontation and I haven't seen the episode. On that note, does anybody know where I can watch episodes 10, 12 and 13 online for free. I have all the others. Thanks.**

**DONT FORGET TO REVIEW!!!**


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